Collection: Cave Bear Fossils

The cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) is a prehistoric species of bear that lived in Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene and became extinct about 24,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum.

Both the word cave and the scientific name spelaeus are used because fossils of this species were mostly found in caves. This reflects the views of experts that cave bears may have spent more time in caves than the brown bear, which uses caves only for hibernation. It is thought to have been largely herbivorous.

Cave bears were comparable in size to, or larger than, the largest modern-day bears, measuring up to 2 m (6.6 ft) in length. The average weight for males was 350 to 600 kg (770 to 1,320 lb), though some specimens weighed as much as 1,000 kg (2,200 lb), while females weighed 225 to 250 kg (495 to 550 lb).